


seams all crooked

by HearJessRoar



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Female Friendship, Gen, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Platonic Relationships, Sharing Clothes, except she didnt ask oops, flynn is a good friend and believes in honesty, julie is a clothes thief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:54:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27670984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HearJessRoar/pseuds/HearJessRoar
Summary: Julie borrows Alex's hoodie.And then she loses it.It's fine it's cool it's fine she's fine(she's not fine, he's gonna be somadat her oh god no-)
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina, Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie & Willie, Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Julie Molina
Comments: 50
Kudos: 567
Collections: oh YES





	seams all crooked

In retrospect, she knows that this was all her fault in the first place.

But retrospect comes later, and for now, Julie is staring in horror at the empty space where she knows she left Alex’s hoodie just half an hour earlier.

Hand to her mouth, she feels the dread creep like ice into her stomach.

How is she supposed to look Alex in the eye and tell him that not only did she take his sweatshirt, _without asking_ , she wore it to school, and then _somehow managed to lose it in her bedroom?_

She’s so mad at herself that she can’t stand it.

“Freakin’ stupid laundry day,” she grumbles, pinching the bridge of her nose. If she hadn’t insisted on making the boys wash their rank clothes yesterday, this never would have happened. 

Sue her for wanting them to smell better.

And yeah, she had washed Alex’s hoodie and his pink tee shirt with her stuff, because her mother taught her to wash like colors with like colors, and if she washed Luke’s band tees with them she was worried the pink would bleed and she would never hear the end of having ruined his beloved Rush shirt.

He has a weird attachment to that one, considering he’d died in it. But whatever, Luke is weird.

Reggie had helped her, so she decides that this is partially his fault. Him and his stupid well-meaning insistence on helping her with chores and his stupid eager to please attitude even when she made him scrub the stupid dirt stains out of Carlos’ stupid baseball pants.

_Stupid._

Why couldn’t it have been Dad’s turn to do laundry this week? The boys would still be wearing nasty clothes, but she wouldn’t have to confess to clothing theft and have Alex and his freaking kind eyes tell her that it was okay, when she knows that it definitely _is not._

She doesn’t even know why she borrowed it. 

Lie. Yes she does.

It’d been raining when she woke up, and her dad had folded both of Alex’s shirts with her stuff and left them on her chair. She had to wash her things last, because she needed to get Reggie and Luke and Alex’s other clothes done before her dad got back from work and questioned why there were boy clothes in the dryer.

(And despite her uselessly shifting some of the blame onto him in her head, Reggie had been her absolute hero by washing all their underwear for her. Bless her bass player, she might have died of embarrassment otherwise and become the fourth Phantom.)

Thank god her dad hadn’t said anything about the tee shirt and the hoodie; he must have just assumed they were Flynn’s. 

And, well.

Raining.

Alex’s hoodie is soft and cozy and there’s something so much better about a boy’s sweatshirt than any of hers, and honestly she was absolutely going to give it back after school. She had even immediately set it carefully down on the back of her desk chair so she would remember to grab it when she headed out to the studio this evening.

And in the time it has taken her to go downstairs and make a snack, it has mysteriously vanished.

Julie drags a hand down her face.

Okay.

Not the time to panic.

Except she totally is.

Panicking.

She’s an awful clothes thief, she knows she is. Half the things in her closet belong to Flynn. But to be fair, half her clothes are in Flynn’s closet too. 

She’d never meant to extend her little habit to the boys’ things; she hadn’t even really known it was possible until she realized that if they were tangible now then so were their clothes, and yes fine maybe she’s had her eye on Reggie’s jacket and Luke’s big ugly flannel, but she really had absolutely no intentions of stealing Alex’s stuff. She’s pretty sure it would cross some sort of line with him. Julie adores Alex and the thought of him being mad at her and pretending that he isn’t mad even though she _knows_ he would be is setting off this horrible roiling anxiety in her stomach-

Flynn. She needs to call Flynn.

She picks up on the second ring and tells Julie she’ll be right there.

Julie sits down on her bed and stares at her desk chair like she can manifest one baby pink Champion hoodie from 1995 into existence just by glaring hard enough.

She nearly goes cross eyed and flops backwards instead, pulling a pillow over her face to yell into it.

 _this is it,_ she thinks hysterically, _this is what causes Alex to leave the band and become a traveling street drummer who uses buckets and splintered old drumsticks and just keeps playing every Neil Peart drum solo he knows over and over and over-_

“I can hear your spiral from here, oh my god.”

The pillow disappears from her face and Julie blinks in the sudden bright light. Flynn is staring down at her, concern etched in her eyes..

She’s been laying there longer than she thought she had, apparently. 

Or Flynn had run here.

Both, probably, judging by the sweat on Flynn’s hairline.

She drops down next to Julie, and grabs her hand, and Julie is so overwhelmed with how much she loves her best friend, even though she can’t currently muster the energy to sit up and face her right now.

They balance each other so well, and when Julie is being dramatic, then Flynn is being serious.

Like right now.

She weaves her fingers with Julie’s and squeezes.

“Here’s what we’re gonna do,” Flynn says, all business. Julie listens intently, relieved to have someone else make the plan for her. Honestly, being able to count on Flynn for support has been one of the best things in her life-

“Tell Alex you stole and lost his sweatshirt because you’re a terrible person and then apologize.”

Julie sits straight up, indignant. “Flynn! I can’t tell him I took it. Have you ever _seen_ Alex when he’s bummed out?”

Flynn gives her a deadpan look. “I don’t think I’ve ever even _seen_ his legs, Jules," she says, repeating Julie’s emphasis sarcastically. "The only reason I know he has feet is because he needs them for the bass drum pedal. No, I have never seen him ‘bummed out’,” she pauses, and makes a face. “You’re hanging around those 90s boys too much, you’re picking up their slang.”

Julie rolls her eyes. “He looks like the world’s saddest, most disappointed golden retriever. It’s horrible,” she shudders. “And that time was only because I had to tell him that Rescue 911 got cancelled in 1996. Imagine his face when I tell him I lost his hoodie,” she reaches out, grabs Flynn by the upper arms, and gives her a little shake. " _The one he died in._ ”

Flynn gives her an odd look. “Is there like, _significance_ there or-”

Julie buries her face in her hands. “I don’t know, they’re all freakishly attached to their death clothes. I guess it makes sense.”

“You’d think they’d want to get rid of the association, honestly,” Flynn ponders out loud.

“Flynn, focus. Hoodie,” she peeks through her fingers to see Flynn giving her A Look, eyebrows raised. Julie groans. “I’m gonna have to fess up, aren’t I?”

Flynn wraps her arm around Julie’s shoulders, giving her a squeeze. “Yep.”

“No way out?”

“None.”

Julie groans again and Flynn clicks her tongue. "I'll help you write it," she promises, letting Julie tip her head despairingly into her collarbone.

And she does. It's a good apology, Julie thinks. Her mom would have been proud. She takes the full responsibility for her actions, and swears to never do it again, and to make it up to him.

And while it looks so good on paper, Julie can't help the lump in her throat because she knows that practicing her apology with Flynn is going to be so much different than trying to squeak out the same words while Alex looks at her patiently.

He doesn't even know what she's done yet and she already feels like she's let down the world's best big brother.

Back and forth for an hour, she practices until she no longer trips on her tongue, looking Flynn in the eye and pretending she's Alex. Flynn even stands on her chair at one point, claiming to be more realistic from up there, just to make Julie laugh.

Flynn makes her a notecard, just in case she forgets her words, wraps her in a tight goodbye hug, and squeezes. "Call me after, okay? He's gonna understand, just you watch."

And Julie walks her to the door on the way to the studio, her notecard in her pocket and a sense of impending doom hanging around her neck.

Dramatic? Her?

Flynn might be right, she might be spending too much time with Luke.

Her hands shake as she pulls open the door to the studio, and she grips the handle tight, letting it bite into her palm.

Reggie and Luke are both leaned against the piano, poring over something in Luke’s journal. Luke looks up at her as she comes in, but his warm smile barely makes a dent in the knot of anxiety sitting heavy like a pit in her stomach.

"Alex should be back soon, then we can show you this awesome new chorus we're working on," Luke says, unaware that he's just made her emotions that much worse.

She gives him a weak smile, and Luke sets down his notebook, looking concerned. It matches the expression on Reggie’s face and _great_ now they both know something is up.

"Jules-?"

Luke is interrupted by Alex popping up beside her in a flash of light. Julie jumps, hand to her chest like she can press her startled heartbeat back into its correct rhythm.

"Hey, I'm back-oh! Hi, Jules. I need to talk to you-"

And the despair sinks in fully, weighing down her shoulders as she faces him. She barely registers that he looks nervous himself, and the part of her that does notice it cannot for the life of her fathom what he's got to be antsy about when _she's_ the one guilty of friendship crimes.

"Alex, I'm so sorry-"

"I'm really sorry Julie, I-"

They both pause, blinking at each other. Reggie and Luke are watching them, eyes moving back and forth like a tennis match while they try to eavesdrop from the background.

"What on Earth are _you_ apologizing for?" Julie asks, baffled. She can feel herself making the face that guys tease her for by exaggerating her expression into Muppet-like proportions, but she can't help it.

Alex scratches the back of his neck. "I was looking for you, and I went into your room and-"

"Hey, 'lex-"

Whatever Alex is saying trails off completely as Willie pops up midsentence over Julie’s shoulder. She jumps again, then turns around and swats at him.

"You are so rude-" her eyes widen. She levels an accusing finger at Willie's chest. " _YOU._ "

Willie points to himself, confused. "Me?"

Julie pokes him for emphasis with every word, her finger digging into the familiar pink fabric. "I. Have. Been. Looking. For. _That._ For. An. _Hour._ "

Willie plucks at the hoodie. "What? Alex let me borrow it."

Julie throws her hands into the air. "It disappeared from my room, I thought I lost it, I had an apology written out and everything!" She pulls the notecard from her pocket and shoves it at Alex, who fumbles to grab it.

"That's what I was about to tell you, Jules," he says, his eyes scanning her apology card. "I saw you left it on your chair and when I took it I knocked some stuff off your desk. I _think_ I put everything back right but-" he pauses, reading. "You wore my sweatshirt to school?"

Julie nods, embarrassed.

"I _was_ wondering why it smelled like green apples," Willie says, giving the collar a thoughtful sniff. "And detergent. Alex usually smells like flowers," he adds absently.

And Alex goes bright red. "It's my sister's body wash-" he mutters, crossing his arms defensively.

“No, it isn’t,” Julie says, fed up and ready to expose him for his love of Bath and Body Works in front of his boyfriend. “It’s _yours_ and you smell like pretty honeysuckle. I can’t _believe_ I just spent an hour having an anxiety attack over losing your sweatshirt when you had it the whole time.” She tangles her fingers into her hair and tugs.

Alex gives her a concerned look. “Jules, did you think I’d be mad at you?”

And the bottle uncaps, and all of her worry and anxiety really does just boil down to Alex being upset with her, because she can’t stand the thought of hurting any of her boys even by accident, and yes fine maybe she’s a little bit teary right now. Julie looks down at her feet and nods.

Alex reaches out, pulls her into a tight hug. She buries her face in his shirt and breathes deeply and yeah okay she might have just exposed him for smelling like a meadow but _boy_ , is it comforting right now. He rocks her back and forth as she tries to tamp down on her emotions.

“Julie, do you know how many of my clothes those two clowns have stolen and then lost forever?” Reggie and Luke protest loudly from the piano. Alex ignores them. “And they have _never apologized._ If I can’t get mad at them for it, I’d _never_ be mad at you for it. Okay?”

Julie sniffles. “...’kay.”

He keeps holding her for a long moment before Reggie declares, “Group hug!” and she’s suddenly surrounded by long dead boys, squeezing her tightly the way boys do.

Luke, from somewhere by her ear, says “Willie, dude, you get in on this too-” and there’s a shuffle as he yoinks Willie into the hug by the front of his borrowed hoodie. Julie laughs.

“You’re all such _idiots_ , I love you _so much._ ”

“We’re _your_ idiots, though, right?” Reggie asks from her other shoulder.

“ _My_ idiots,” she confirms. Reggie beams. 

From behind her, Willie asks if this means he gets to keep the sweatshirt and they all snicker as Alex waffles on the answer until Willie says that he’s joking, he doesn’t want it until it smells like Alex again. And then they all keep giggling as Alex blushes for the second time, hiding his face in Julie’s hair. She pats his back in support.

They aren’t idiots, she thinks privately, but they are hers. Her boys, her band, her friends, her family.

And she is _absolutely_ borrowing Reggie’s jacket next.

**Author's Note:**

> i was writing something else, got this idea, scribbled it out, et voila i have edited _nothing_ so don't be surprised if you revisit it later and it's been tweaked
> 
> anyway
> 
> pls comment if you liked it, this one was fun to write, and pls go check out my other jatp fics if you havent yet, im having a grand time playing with these characters and their world


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